London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Princess Beatrice 'wedding gift' claim in court case

Princess Beatrice 'wedding gift' claim in court case

A Turkish millionaire claims her payment to Prince Andrew was falsely described as a wedding gift for his daughter Princess Beatrice.

Nehebat Isbilen is claiming at the High Court in London that her business adviser Selman Turk "dishonestly misappropriated" £38m of her assets.

Mrs Isbilen paid £750,000 to Prince Andrew and claims Mr Turk had wrongly told her bank it was a wedding gift.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Princess Beatrice or Prince Andrew.

The Duke of York has now returned the £750,000 to Mrs Isbilen.

Mr Turk has rejected the allegations made against him.

Tracking down her money


This complex court case revolves around accusations that Mrs Isbilen's money was fraudulently used by her business adviser, Mr Turk.

Mrs Isbilen, aged 77, is from a wealthy Turkish business family, but when her politician husband was jailed she wanted advice on moving her assets out of Turkey.

Prince Andrew has returned £750,000


But the High Court has heard accusations that Mr Turk "misappropriated" her assets - and her lawyers have been trying to track down and recover her money.

According to court papers, this revealed that "substantial sums" had been paid to Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Mrs Isbilen claims Mr Turk advised her to make a "gift" of £750,000 to Prince Andrew, which she was misled into believing was for assistance with her passport.

This amount was transferred from her account on 15 November 2019.

"The representation that Mrs Isbilen needed to make a gift to the Duke of York in connection with her passport [or for any other purpose] was false," says her legal team in their claim of dishonesty against Mr Turk.

But Mrs Isbilen's testimony in an affidavit also says that she saw an email from Mr Turk to her bank explaining the £750,000 payment as being a "wedding gift" for the Duke of York's daughter, Prince Beatrice.

This claim was "entirely false" says Mrs Isbilen in her affidavit.

A week before the payment by Mrs Isbilen, Mr Turk's firm had also been a winner of an award at the Pitch at the Palace business initiative, headed by Prince Andrew.

Representatives of Prince Andrew have not commented on the ongoing court case.

A spokesman for the Duchess of York said: "The duchess was completely unaware of the allegations that have since emerged against Mr Turk. She is naturally concerned by what has been alleged against him."

More payments


The court has heard claims of further payments to the Duke and Duchess of York, via a company called Alphabet Capital.

According to court documents, about £900,000 of Mrs Isbilen's money was paid into this company in two payments, despite her claim: "I did not know about or authorise either of these payments."

This company then made payments to Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, with Peters and Peters, the law firm representing Mrs Isbilen, claiming Prince Andrew received £350,000.

The discovery of payments to Prince Andrew emerged after a court order allowed a search of Mr Turk's financial dealings.

Court papers show that some of the expenditure had been attributed by Mr Turk to professional costs and unsuccessful investments, but there were claims of significant amounts still to be explained.

Jonathan Tickner, Mrs Isbilen's lawyer, said she had been "the victim of serious fraud and financial wrongdoing", and was determined to pursue her claim against all those involved.

Court documents show that Mr Turk has disputed the allegations and disagrees with Mrs Isbilen's understanding of how her assets have been handled.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
×